How do you do water changes?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I may have to get an expanding hose now that someone else has used it without killing fish, ha.


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I use this home made device for water changes with a regular garden hose.

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No more sucking on the hose to start the siphon, no more running back to the tap to turn off in time.

I just dump in the prime and fill it up, but I don't really have to worry about matching temperature.

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Pocket Hose set-up for refills of 180 and 75. Hooked up to washing machine hoses so I can mix hot/cold water.
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180 is in walk-out basement and drain into yard via garden hose. 75 is on 1st floor and drain into toilet that's 12' away using this ghetto set-up
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29gal on 2nd floor drains via garden hose into bath tub. Refills by attaching the same garden hose to this water pump and the pump is placed into a 5gal bucket and filled in bath tub
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Two 29gal cold water tanks in basement drained by garden hose and filled via outdoor faucet. The pvc rig in the pic is used so the sand isn't disturbed and allows me not to have to stand there and hold it.
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I must confess my water changes have become a bit more rare these days. When I do change water it's with the 25 ft python, and because I don't do it often I don't mind the time commitment a bit. I mostly do water changes when I am planning new arrivals and when I haven't done one in a few weeks because I'm worried the metals, along with other nasty elements, will build up without a source to get rid of them. That said, I am unable to register nitrates because of the miracle of pothos plants. Prior to adding it to my setups I was changing probably 40 gallons a week through buckets and it was kind of a drag. Python is the way to go if you're not on a schedule, because there is no real work involved, just waiting.
 
xraycer said:
There's really no easy way around it, if you want to drain fast, you'll need larger diameter hoses or utilize an electric pump.

I use those expanding hoses and they work well. I use it to refill my 75 and 180 and it doesn't take long to refill a 180 at 50%...never timed it, but I want to say about 10mins or so. Best part is, I just use the glass cover to hold the end piece in place, while its refilling, and I can walk away to do other things
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So, I timed my refill of the 180 tonight and it took 14 minutes. Here's a pic of the "no hold" refill with Pocket Hose on the 75
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Ha, y'all have so much tank! And such awesome set ups for all of them too!
Woe weve never done "regularly scheduled" water changes. :/ probabbllllyyy not good, byt its never caused us any issues either.
Question, what is a python hose?

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Its a hose with a valve assembly that hooks up to a bathroom or kitchen sink. It lets you drain the tank into the sink and also refill it.



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I noticed a few of your don't actually vacuum your substrate. Why is that? I have BB in my HOB filter, canister filter & sponge filters. As it is I would be concerned that I may have too much BB which could be costing me oxygen saturation levels if it wasn't for how much surface disturbance I get from all of the aforementioned items. Are you not worried about what's building up in your substrate?
 
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